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Here are some numbers to chew on:
35 states and union territories. 640 districts. 5,767 tehsils. 7,742 towns. 6,00,000+ villages. 24,00,00,000 households.
120,00,00,000 people.
Census 2011 starts today.
Every one of those 1.2 billion over the age of 15 will be photographed and have their biometric fingerprints collected for National Population Register.
Also, for the first time data related to mobile phone and internet usage, bank accounts etc will be collected.
Don't you find it all terribly exciting?!

More numbers to mull on:
Cost of Census operation -Rs.2209 Cr
Cost of NPR creation - Rs. 3539.24 Cr
No. of personnel deployed - 25,00,000
Paper used - 12,000 tonnes

can't believe...

I have heard people talk about how they grow wary and a mild-uneasy fear takes over them whenever things go too well in their lives. Not used to too much good, they say.

I finally understand what they mean.

Yep, now I understand how one cannot simply relish the good luck and leave it at that. That much good luck almost always has some dreaded thing tagged along. Maybe the uneasiness is just the mind's way of reacting to something it is not used to.

Well, disbelief to the point of physically rubbing my eyes and an uneasy feeling in the stomach immediately following the initial euphoria - is how my mind reacted to an extraordinary event yesterday.

I had green signal at both Khairatabad Junction and Jubilee Checkpost. BOTH. And not on some public holiday or bandh or at some ungodly hour, but in peak office hours.

Go explain that! No wonder my poor self couldn't cope.

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Bad news ain't drying up in Hyderabad.

Curfew in some areas. Why? Communal riots.

Nothing quite catches up with Religion when it comes to turning people into blood thirsty maniacs. Of course the problem has always been its combination with the Politics of power

Religion would have probably been spared this bad a name, had it not been manipulated, championed and enforced by those in power... since millennia.

Pink n Blue

I saw him again today. Must be 60-65 years old, sits just in front of the Control Room/Assembly bus stop and sells Jasmine flowers.

The flowers were spread out in two neatly separated groups on an old green rag. He sat on the hard concrete road and his narrowed eyes were concentrating on the needle he was using to piece the garland together. He usually sells only one variety - Jasmine, spicing up his spread only occasionally with Marigold when a Hindu festival is due.

Today however on the farther right end of his green rag, were a bunch of roses; stuff that is not usually part of his modest stock. Some 10 of them in baby-pink color, long stemmed - the kind you find on Archies cards and adorns expensive glass vases. They were starting to dry up and would probably fetch half their price today and close to nothing tomorrow.

I looked down at my watch; it was 8.30 in the evening. At the same moment, he stopped making his garland, picked up the rose bunch, turned them around, had a good look, carefully put it back and went back to his garland.

He will most likely not sell a single rose today.

The roses must have cost him dear. The investment must have been an exercise in hope, a little adventure and risk for him, today morning.

What must run through his mind when he goes to bed today, I wondered.

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Currently Watching:

The Black Adder - Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson

shut shop

I can get a book for a discounted price if I shop online.
I will have to shell out more if I go physically to the same store to buy it.
Why?
Do they hate having customers walking around their store? Or are they incentivizing online purchase so they can shut shop and eventually be online-only?
OK, I have a thing for personally going to a store and picking up a book. Why should I be penalized for that?
Makes no sense to me.
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Alice in the Wonderland is here. Burton + Depp -> Now that's a combination.
Rubbing hands in gleeful anticipation.
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Movies:
A Brief Encounter
It's a Wonderful Life
To Kill a Mocking Bird (again)

Books:
Dork - Sidin Vayukut
Notes From a Small Island - Bill Bryson
The Last Mughal - William Dalrymple
The Argumentative Indian - Amartya Sen
Dreams From My Father - Barack Obama

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Jack: I expected you to figure that out.
Jill: I did. But I had to ask.
Jack smiles sadly at her, knowing the words before she spoke them.
Jill: Couldn't leave any stone unturned before giving up. Can't sleep otherwise.